Bonded
by jamiepage19
Summary: After a night of celebrating and hard drinking on the Citadel, Shepard wakes up in her apartment to find Garrus sleeping next to her in bed. As the two slowly unravel the hazy details of the previous night's events, they discover that they may have gotten in more trouble than they bargained for.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hello dear readers!

This story started out as...what's the writing equivalent of "ear worm?" Anyway, I started writing this story because I needed a break from the more serious and suspenseful storyline of Parallel Lives. It's mainly a fun, fluff piece that I wrote mostly for my own enjoyment. I hope you find it enjoyable as well. If you're looking for a more serious, traditional, or action-based Mass Effect story be sure to check out my other pieces: Parallel Lives and Different Horizons

As always, I do not own Mass Effect or any of the characters. All rights belong to BioWare and EA Games.

~Jamie

* * *

Call it intuition or a sixth sense or whatever you will, but I knew, even before I opened my eyes, that something wasn't right. Maybe it was because of the way my head pounded, or the strange feeling of foreboding that was firmly knotted in the pit of my stomach. Or maybe, it had everything to do with the warm body pressed up against my side and my complete inability to recall how I'd gotten myself into this situation.

Drinking to the point of memory lapse just wasn't my style, and falling into bed with someone after a night of said drinking was even more out of character for me. Hell, even if it were, I rarely had time for any of it. The demand of saving the galaxy from the reapers took virtually all of my attention, and was usually in the back of my mind despite my best attempts to let loose and relax.

Except for last night, apparently.

Inhaling deeply—which instantly made my head throb even worse—I lifted one heavy eyelid and tentatively peered at my surroundings. The cream-colored walls of my apartment bedroom wavered into view, and I let out a shaky breath.

Okay, I'd made back to my apartment. I hadn't passed out at someone else's place. That was something, at least.

As if he could hear my thoughts, my companion shifted next to me, causing the bed jiggle, and I knew I was only seconds away from finding out who I'd chosen to take home with me. My heart immediately kicked into overdrive, pumping blood up into my head with such a vengeance that it made the room spin and I suddenly feared I might lose whatever meager contents were left in my stomach.

There was no point in putting off the inevitable, so I took another deep breath to steel myself and glanced down at the sleeping form next to me. What I saw made the blood freeze in my veins.

 _Oh, Jesus._ How did I end up in bed with my best friend? Biting my lower lip, I slowly lifted the covers and peeked underneath. Make that my _half-naked_ best friend.

Garrus was lying next to me, his face half buried in the pillow. He'd stuck one leg out of the covers, and it now rested on top of me, effectively trapping me in the bed. His arms, thank god, were pulled close to his body. I don't know what I would have done if they'd been draped over me. Screamed, probably.

I needed to get out of there, preferably before he woke up. Somehow, the thought of facing him was too much to bear; especially since I was just as equally undressed as he was. Thankfully I still had my bra and panties on, but in the grand scheme of things it offered little comfort.

Gripping the side of the mattress, I gradually inched my way toward the edge, hoping like hell that the movement didn't disturb him. I had almost made it off the bed when his eyes fluttered open. I let out an undignified yelp and clutched the sheet tightly against my chest.

"Shepard?" he asked groggily. "What're you doing here?"

He must have read the fear on my panic-stricken face, because he propped himself on his elbow and slowly scanned the room. I watched in agonizing silence as realization dawned on him that he wasn't in the main battery on the Normandy. Finally, he centered his gaze on me, the ridge of his brow creasing into a deep, puzzled frown. "Where are we?"

"My apartment," I replied. The answer came out as a squeak, which was completely unlike the usual, confident tone I always used when speaking. Of course, Garrus immediately picked up on it.

"What happened last night?"

"You mean you don't remember, either?"

He shook his head. "No. Everything's a blur."

"Yeah, me too."

"Did we…?"

"I don't know." I didn't know if such a thing was even possible between turians and humans. I didn't want to know. All I wanted was to be somewhere else. Anywhere else. Maybe if I closed my eyes I could convince myself it was all a dream.

The scene before me didn't change, however, and presently I became aware that we would eventually have to get up and get dressed. That meant leaving the bed and the security of my sheet.

 _Shit._

"Close your eyes," I demanded.

"Why? It's not like I didn't see everything last night," he said, making a show of craning his neck like he was trying to get a better look. "I probably got an eyeful."

"And thank god you can't remember!" I shouted, hurling a pillow at him. It hit him square in the face and he tossed it aside with an amused chuckle. "Close your damn eyes now, Vakarian!"

He laughed again, silently this time, and complied.

"I'm glad you think this is funny," I muttered as I wrapped the sheet around my body and slid off the bed.

Shuffling as fast as I could go, I bee-lined toward the closet and locked myself inside. Fortunately, I had the foresight to pack a few sets of civvies before I left the Normandy on shore leave, and quickly pulled on a pair of comfortable jeans and my favorite black tee shirt. It was snug, but broken in, and fit nicely in all the right places.

Garrus had taken advantage of my absence and was now standing by the side of the bed in the clothes he'd been wearing last night. The light gray complemented his skin tone and the dark blue stripe running down the front of his shirt and along the outer seams of his pants matched the color of his eyes perfectly. He turned when he heard the closet door slide open and we stared at each other awkwardly, unsure of what to do or say next.

"Um…so what do we do now?" he eventually asked.

"Now we go downstairs. Hopefully Anderson has some coffee hiding around here somewhere," I replied, hoping if I downplayed the situation it would ease some of the awful tension that had risen up between us. "Then we'll see about tracking down the rest of the crew. Maybe they can shed some light on what happened."

He nodded and followed me out of the bedroom.

I still couldn't believe that Anderson had gifted his apartment to me. It seemed unfair to have it at my disposal while he was on Earth fighting off masses of reapers.

 _Apartment_ seemed like such an inadequate word compared to the sprawling space spread out before me. It was a word more suited to the cramped places I'd encountered on Omega. This was more like a penthouse. No expense had been spared in its design or decoration. Located just off the Silver Sun Strip on the Citadel, the two-story apartment had three bedrooms and just as many bathrooms, and boasted extravagances such as waterfalls, two giant fireplaces, a grand piano, slate rock walls, lush green foliage, custom cabinetry—the list seemed to go on forever.

We reached the landing and headed toward the set of stairs directly in front of us. The two living rooms below were completely empty, immediately eliminating the idea that the rest of the Normandy crew had retired here after returning from the bar, and along with it any hope that maybe Garrus had been so drunk that he'd stumbled into and passed out in the wrong bed by mistake. Not a couch cushion was out of place, which told me that we were alone when we came back here.

The pounding in my head was a not-so-subtle reminder of why I couldn't remember anything, and with a heavy sigh I trudged into the kitchen. Garrus sat down at the island, placing his elbows counter, and watched as I rummaged through the cupboards in search of coffee. I found a canister stashed way in the back and uttered a small prayer of gratitude before I scooped a copious amount of grounds into the coffee maker.

All the while I could feel Garrus' eyes on me. A lump slowly crept up and settled in the base of my throat. What did you say to someone the morning after the night you couldn't remember? Suddenly our friendship felt strained. I'd never thought of him as anything more than a friend, and as far as I knew he felt the same way. We knew everything about each other, had been close since he'd first come aboard the SR-1. Out of everyone on my crew, he was the one I trusted most. To consider him romantically—obvious racial differences notwithstanding—just felt weird. I couldn't even imagine what was going through his head right now.

A few minutes later the kitchen was filled with the delicious aroma of my favorite vice. I poured myself a generous cup, inhaling the scent as the steam wafted up toward my nose. Taking a tentative first sip, I closed my eyes and let the scalding hot liquid course down my throat. Feeling slightly more equipped to handle our current situation, I turned partner in crime.

"Ready to contact the Normandy and find out what the hell's going on?" I asked, deliberately trying to keep my tone light.

"Oh yeah," Garrus replied. "The sooner we get back to the ship, the sooner I can get rid of this hangover. That is, unless you've got the turian equivalent hiding in there somewhere," he said, pointing to my cup.

"Shit, Garrus. I didn't even think…," I stammered, glancing down at my coffee sheepishly. "I was lucky to find this…I haven't stocked the apartment yet. I'm sorry."

He laughed. "It's okay, Shepard. It's not like we planned this."

I smiled weakly. "Right."

Queueing up my omni-tool before things got any more uncomfortable, I put in a call to the Normandy.

"Shepard to Normandy. Come in."

A few minutes went by, but no answer came.

"Shepard to Normandy," I repeated. "Joker, do you copy?"

Frowning, I shifted my gaze to Garrus. He simply shrugged, looking just as confused as I was.

Several more minutes passed, but the comm remained strangely silent.

"Garrus?" I finally said. "This is too weird. What is going on?"

Ever the detective, he replied. "I have no idea, Shepard, but we're going to find out. What's the last thing you remember about last night?"

Scrunching my lips together in thought I took a seat next to him. "Well, I gave the crew seventy-two hours of shore leave. Most of us went to the club."

"That's right," he agreed. "What was its name? Oh yeah. Escapades."

"Yeah. We were drinking." _Obviously._ "And dancing."

"I suggest we go back. Retrace our steps. Maybe somebody there saw us last night and can tell us what happened. Maybe we'll even run into some of the other crew members along the way."

"Now you're thinking." I downed the rest of my coffee and slammed the cup on the counter. "Let's go."

"I'm right behind you."


	2. Chapter 2

If I thought standing within close proximity to Garrus in the kitchen was awkward, it was nothing compared to sharing a cab on the way to Escapades. Despite turians being one of the elite council races, the sky cars weren't really made to accommodate them. The inside of the car was so cramped that our legs kept brushing together, and every time they did my cheeks flamed red. I couldn't understand why I was suddenly having this type of reaction, especially since we'd been in even closer quarters during our excursions in the Mako. Why was everything so different now?

Unfortunately, I didn't have the answers to those questions, and I sure as hell didn't feel like discussing them with the man sitting next to me. So instead, I kept my eyes forward and tried to focus on our destination. The sooner we figured out what was going on, the sooner we could get back to normal. I was more than ready to put the incident behind me and forget it ever happened.

Garrus, too, was uncharacteristically silent as I drove back to the bar. He stared out the window, his gaze fixed on a distant point somewhere ahead of us. Every now and then his hand would clench and unclench, and he would shift uncomfortably in his seat.

 _God, we're a mess_ , I thought darkly.

I steered the sky car to the roped-off landing pad in front of the club and we got out.

"Welcome to Escapades," the doorman greeted. He opened the door and we were instantly assaulted with a thumping electronic beat. "Where anytime is a good time to party."

True to his word the club was just as busy as it had been the night before. Music with a heavy dance rhythm blared from the overhead speakers, and several of the patrons were writhing and gyrating out on the dance floor despite the early hour. Others, preferring a more subdued experience, sat in the booths that skirted the edges. Dozens of people lingered on the mezzanine above, some leaning against the railing to observe the scene below while others were engaged in heavy conversation and various stages of flirting.

"Where should we start?" I asked, shouting to be heard over the music.

Garrus motioned to the bar. "Over there."

We pushed our way through the crowded dance floor and headed toward the bar. A young human bartender was wiping down the counter, and scowled when he looked up and saw us coming.

"Ohhhhh no," he said, shaking his head. "Don't think you guys can just go away for a couple of hours and then come back. It doesn't work that way."

Garrus and I shared a glance.

"Are you talking to us?" I asked.

"Playing dumb won't work, either. You guys are cut off." He made an "X" with his arms and swept them away in an outward motion as he emphasized, "Cut. Off."

I shot another look at Garrus that said _I think we're on to something_ and then turned back to the bartender and replied, "I'm not trying to play dumb. We don't remember a whole lot about last night."

He scoffed.

Narrowing my eyes at his sarcasm, I continued, "Can you help us fill in the holes? I take it we were here."

"Yeah, you were here," he said, running a hand through his short blond hair. "You had challenged each other to a drinking contest."

"That sounds a lot like us," Garrus chuckled.

I nodded in agreement.

The bartender wasn't impressed. "Yeah, well the two of you went through half my stock," he humphed. "You'd made it through three-quarters of a bottle of ryncol by the time I cut you off."

"Ryncol…," I breathed. "That explains a lot."

"What happened after that?" my partner pressed. "Did you see us leave?"

"Nah, you headed out to dance, but by that time you weren't my problem anymore so I stopped paying attention."

"Thanks for your help," Garrus said, pulling me toward the dance floor.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. "I gotta get back to work. I got customers."

"Ryncol, Garrus," I said when we were out of earshot. "No wonder we can't remember anything. Wait—what're we doing?"

"Dancing."

"Why?"

"Might jog our memory."

"I don't dance, Garrus."

"Nice try, Shepard. I have it on good authority that you danced last night."

"I'd hardly call one put out bartender a good authority," I retorted dryly.

I became acutely aware of his hand holding mine, and a rush of something I couldn't identify coursed up my arm and settled warmly at the bottom of my belly. I swallowed, trying to convince myself that it was only the thought of dancing, and not the turian that had ahold of me that made me suddenly so nervous.

Garrus yanked my arm and spun me around, bringing our bodies flush together. Through my jeans I felt the sharp points of his hips jutting into mine, and once again my cheeks grew hot and red. I stiffened, and the next step I took was right on his foot.

"Oops, sorry!"

"Relax, Shepard," he said. "Just follow my lead."

"Since when do you know so much about this?" I countered testily.

"Been taking lessons on the side."

"I call bullshit, Vakarian," I teased, a little of my courage returning as we bantered. "Like we have any time for that."

He laughed in response. With a firm grip on my right hand he twirled us around. His left hand drifted down until it rested against the small of my back, hugging me close enough to him that one of his mandibles brushed the top of my head. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the rhythm of the music, on the swaying of Garrus' body, and on the slight pressure of his hands as he gave me silent cues on where and how to move next.

With my sight gone my other senses grew more pronounced. He was warm, and even though his hands were gloved I could feel his heat radiating through me. His skin smelled of soap laced with the musky scent of spice. Inhaling, I enjoyed how it tickled my nose, and wondered how I'd never seemed to notice how good he smelled before.

"Shepard."

My eyes flew open and I started guiltily.

 _Shit. Shit! Did he just catch me smelling_ _him?!_

How in the hell was I ever going to explain that one?

"Anything coming to mind?" he asked.

"Uhhhh…."

 _Quick! Think of something—now, you idiot—anything but the damned truth!_

"You mean, other than the ways I'm going to kill you later for this?" I quipped. "No."

"Me?" he said in an overly innocent tone. "Whatever for—"

He stopped, and his whole body tensed.

"What? What is it?"

"That turian bouncer over there," he replied. "He keeps looking at us."

I angled my head around to get a better look. Garrus resumed our dance, but altered the pace so that we could keep an eye on the bouncer.

"Go along with me on this."

"Wha—? _Whoa!_ "

That was my only warning. In the next second my world blurred as he directed me into a spin that ended with a dip. My head fell back, and though everything was now upside-down, I clearly saw the bouncer smile and nod approvingly at Garrus.

"I thought so," Garrus mused. "He knows us. Come on."

He set me back on my feet and then abruptly let go. The change in temperature was immediate, so much so that it left me staggering. Disoriented, I followed him off the dance floor to where the bouncer stood leaning up against the wall.

"Ha hah!" the turian said, clasping Garrus' hand in a congratulatory grip. "I didn't think I'd see you two back so soon!"

"You remember seeing us?" my friend inquired.

"How could I forget?" he exclaimed. "That dance…I mean, this one was okay, don't get me wrong. But it was nothing compared to the one last night. You had the whole place staring."

I groaned, covering my face with my hand.

Garrus rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, the details of last night are…a little fuzzy."

"That's a damn shame," the bouncer said. "It sure was something to see."

 _Great_. How many vids and news outlets were going to be blasting coverage of that today?

"So, did you find it?" the turian asked, his raspy voice slicing into my thoughts.

"Find what?" we both answered in unison.

"The jewelry shop," he responded, turning his attention to Garrus. "You came over here after your dance and asked me if I knew of any shops around here that sold turian jewelry."

"Well, see, that's what we're trying to find out," Garrus said. He glanced down at me, his eyes encouraging me to play along.

"Uh…yeah," I said.

"Where was this shop?"

"Two wards up from here," the bouncer told us. "I sent the coordinates to your omni-tool last night."

"Perfect. Thanks."

"Hey, yeah! No problem! Good luck to the both of you."

Garrus tugged my hand and motioned for me to follow him, since I seemed incapable of moving on my own.

"One night of drinking is turning into a wild goose chase," I said as we got back into the sky car, this time with Garrus at the wheel.

"A what?"

"Oh. I keep forgetting you don't know human phrases."

"I'm learning," he argued.

"Right. Well, this one means that every time we think we're getting somewhere, we just uncover more of a mystery, one more place or thing to investigate."

He nodded. "Hmm…fitting. And there's no one else that I'd rather chase wild gooses with then you."

I sank my teeth into my lower lip, biting back my laughter at his misuse of the phrase. Instead, I slapped my palm over my heart and smirked, "A Garrus Vakarian compliment. I'm touched."

Garrus laughed, fixing me with a mischievous glare. "You should be. I only reserve those for the very best."

I stared back at him, suddenly unable to tear my eyes away from his. A few seconds and several gulps later, I collected myself enough to say, "Ready to go find this jeweler and unravel more of this puzzle?"

His mandibles twitched before breaking into a wide, cocky smile. "You know it."

I sat back in my seat and swung my arm out in front of me. "All right then, my friend. To the jewelry shop."


	3. Chapter 3

Pinks, blues, and vibrant yellows whizzed by in a kaleidoscope of bright neon color as we left the Silver Sun Strip and made our way to the jewelry shop. Now it was my turn to stare out the window in silence, and as I did, I thought about what sorts of things we would find when we got there. Meanwhile, Garrus prattled on in a desperate attempt to keep the awkwardness at bay.

"What I want to know is where the rest of the crew is," he rambled. "No one we've spoken to has mentioned seeing them."

"Even if they did remember, it's not like anyone thought that their presence was pertinent to our questions," I replied. Gazing at him out of the corner of my eye, I added, "But I get what you mean. It's weird that they haven't tried to contact us, and even weirder that Joker isn't responding to my calls."

"Maybe we were drugged."

I raised my eyebrow skeptically.

"No, think about it. We woke up with no memory of what happened last night and no idea how we got back to your apartment."

 _And into the same bed,_ I thought.

"Okay," he laughed. "Maybe we weren't drugged. Maybe we just got really, really drunk. My point is, what if the crew doesn't even know we're gone?"

Encouraged by his line of thinking, I twisted around in my seat until I was facing him. "Yeah! What if they just _assumed_ we returned to the Normandy, and took off without us?"

"That would explain why no one has tried to get us on the radio."

"Because...," I continued excitedly, rolling my hand in a circular motion, "they wouldn't want to disturb us or wake us up after seeing how drunk we got last night."

"Yeah," Garrus agreed. "I think we might be on to something here."

An indescribable feeling of relief washed over me. What Garrus was suggesting made a whole lot of sense. Hell, it was the most sense anything had made all day. I settled back into my seat, feeling the muscles in my neck and shoulders finally starting to relax.

"Of course," he added as an afterthought, "that wouldn't explain why we woke up together."

Damn it.

"There's got to be a logical explanation for that," I ventured. "We were probably so drunk that we couldn't stand up straight by ourselves and needed each other for support. If that were the case—which I think it is—then naturally we would've crashed somewhere together."

Thankfully, Garrus appeared to accept my rationalization of the events, because he nodded and then turned his attention to landing the sky car.

In my opinion it was way too soon to revisit that aspect, and the last thing I wanted was to inadvertently steer the conversation into him saying something like, "What's so wrong with waking up next to me?" Because the truth was, I didn't know how to answer that question. Part of me wanted to cover my ears and run away screaming, but there was a small part—a mutinous part—of me that didn't think it was such a bad idea. However, _that_ kind of thinking ultimately led to me wondering what _he_ was thinking, and then to second-guessing myself about what he was thinking, and a whole slew of other complicated thoughts and emotions that I just wasn't ready to deal with. It was better to bury those notions now and hope that all of this was just a crazy misunderstanding.

My concentration was broken as the sky car settled roughly to the ground outside the small jewelry shop. We got out and Garrus waited as I walked around the front of the car, and together we went inside.

Besides us, there were four other people in the shop; an asari couple who were standing so close to each other they very well could have been one person, a young human man frowning over one of the glass display cases, and a rotund volus behind the counter.

"Welcome," the volus acknowledged. "What can I do for," he paused, exhaling, "you."

"Do you keep logs of all your past purchases?" I asked.

"Yes." He breathed in. "But we don't honor returns without a receipt."

"We're not looking to return anything," Garrus told him. "Do we look familiar to you?"

"No."

"You don't remember seeing us last night?"

"No. But I didn't work yesterday. It was my day off."

Garrus briefly glanced at me before leaning on the counter casually. "Can you tell me if you have record of me purchasing anything last night?"

"Hold on." The volus ambled over to his computer terminal and typed a series of strokes on the keyboard. "Name?"

"Vakarian. Garrus Vakarian."

We waited as he typed in Garrus' name and pored over the information on the screen. "Ah, yes, here it is. Oh…this is very nice. One of our finest turian pieces."

"What is it?" Garrus asked.

Our stout companion swiveled the screen toward us and pointed to picture of a stunning silver and cobalt blue necklace. The two different colored metals intertwined in an intricate pattern that ended in a sharp, pointed 'V' shape.

Garrus stood up and backed away from the counter, his entire body growing tense as he eyed the exquisite piece of jewelry.

"Wow," I whispered. "That's gorgeous. What is it?"

"It's a ceremonial turian bonding necklace," the volus said.

"A bonding necklace?" I echoed. "Is that like an engagement ring?"

The shopkeeper nodded.

My gaze flew to Garrus, and my eyes narrowed questioningly. Never in all the years I'd known him had I ever seen him so visibly shaken.

"Is there anything else I can," another pause, "help you with?"

"No. Thanks," Garrus muttered. Lost in his thoughts, he turned around and headed for the door.

"Hey! Wait!" I called after him. I broke into a jog and caught up with him just as he reached the sky car. He climbed inside and sat there, staring silently through the large windshield. I scurried around to the other side and jumped in, pulling the door shut behind me. "Garrus? What was that all about?"

"It doesn't make sense," he finally said. "Why would I buy a bonding necklace?"

Unnerved by his sudden change in temperament, I responded the only way I knew how: with humor. "Sounds like you met a really nice turian girl back at the bar—you know, the kind your dad would definitely approve of—and the two of you just _had_ to get married. So you rushed off to buy the necklace. What if," I exclaimed, widening my eyes for dramatic effect, "she's back at my place right now, pissed off and waiting for you because we abandoned her?"

"This isn't funny, Shepard," Garrus grumbled. "Turians don't take the idea of marriage lightly. Besides, I really doubt I could have met and fallen in love with them so much last night that I had to buy a bonding necklace."

"Maybe you bought it for someone else. You always did have a soft side. Maybe some down-on-his-luck turian convinced you to buy it for him so he could give it to his girlfriend."

"I don't know."

Slumping back against the soft leather of the seat, I folded my arms across my chest and blew a puff of air through my lips.

"What now?"

I shrugged. "I guess we go back to my apartment. See if we can find the necklace and go from there."

Garrus nodded and pointed the sky car towards the Silver Sun Strip.

We didn't waste any time once we arrived. Splitting up, we agreed to systematically search the apartment room by room. I would take the second level while Garrus hunted around the main floor.

"Look for anything— _anything_ —that might look suspicious or out of place," I advised as I hurried up the stairs. "A box or bag from the jewelry shop, or anything to suggest that we weren't alone last night."

I made a beeline for the upstairs guest bedroom. The room looked undisturbed; the covers on the bed were still pulled tight, the pillows fluffed to perfection. The bathroom was immaculate. But I wasn't satisfied. I opened every drawer in the closet, rummaged through the nightstands, scoured the bookshelves, and looked under the bed and in between the mattresses.

Nothing.

Working my way out to the sitting area outside both the guest and master bedrooms, I repeated the process, digging through the couch cushions, checking underneath the coffee table, scanning along the floor. Christ, I even checked the plants!

Downstairs I could hear Garrus doing the same thing. Cupboard doors in the kitchen opened and shut, silverware clinked in the drawers, pots and pans rattled as he sifted through them. I froze every time things down there grew quiet, waiting for him to shout that he'd found it. But no such announcement ever came.

Reluctantly, I approached my bedroom and stood in the doorway, gazing around the room. Unlike the guest bedroom, mine was in complete disarray. The bed was unmade, with half of the covers hanging off the side of the mattress and onto the floor. Three of the four pillows had fallen off. The sheet I had used to cover myself was still lying in a pile in the closet where I had left it this morning after getting dressed. The black dress I wore to the bar was crumpled up on the floor in the doorway to the bathroom. Apparently I had been in a hurry to get out of my shoes, because I found one in between the bathroom and the bed but had no clue where the other one went.

With my heart lodged firmly in my throat I trudged to the bed. Now that I was alone and didn't have to joke or deflect Garrus' misgivings with humor, my uneasiness returned with a vengeance. Was I going to find it in here? What if I did?

"Just because you find it, it doesn't mean that he bought it for you," I scolded myself in a whisper.

But that's exactly what I dreaded the most. Had Garrus and I turned a wild night of drinking and partying into something more?

Squeezing my eyelids shut I took a deep breath and ripped the blanket off the bed, and then cautiously opened my eyes.

Nothing.

My head spun as I let out a huge sigh of relief. Lifting up the pillow I checked underneath it, behind the headboard, and on the floor all around the bed.

Still no sign of it.

Nor did I find anything in the nightstands, on the weapons bench, or in any of the drawers or shelves in my closet.

I rushed into the master bathroom. The large Jacuzzi had been filled with water, the temperature long since cold. Sitting at the bottom was my other shoe. A used towel had been thrown haphazardly over the counter. Two untouched glasses of dextro/levo compatible champagne rested next to the towel, but other than that, the bathroom looked relatively undisturbed.

Folding my arms, I pursed my lips as my gaze wandered back into the bedroom. "Hmm…it looks like my theory about Garrus buying the necklace out of charity is starting to hold more weight."

I stood there for a few moments, unsure of what to do next, before I decided that I couldn't stand the mess anymore. Kneeling down, I dipped my arm into the icy water of the hot tub and released the drain, pausing to grab my shoe on the way back up. Then I got up, dumped the champagne down the sink and rinsed out the glasses. Gathering them and the towel in my hand, I bent over and scooped up my dress, shaking it slightly to get rid of the wrinkles.

Something heavy fell out of the folds and hit the floor with a muted thud.

Shifting the bundle to one side I angled my upper body so I could look down and see what it was. The blood in my veins instantly turned to ice water. There, on the floor, was the turian ceremonial bonding necklace.

Eventually I collected myself enough to pick it up and walked slowly to the bed where I sank down, setting the bundle of glasses and clothing beside me to I could examine the necklace with both hands.

The picture at the jewelry shop didn't even come close to doing it justice. Upon closer inspection the silver part looked like some sort of a turian precious metal, and as I turned it around and around it caught the light and sparkled with the intensity of a highly-sought-after gemstone. The cobalt blue was a deeper shade in person and immediately reminded me of Garrus' clan colors. It was easy to see why—even though he had been extremely drunk at the time—it had appealed to him so much.

Okay, so the mystery of the missing necklace had been solved. I took a deep breath. But now I was presented with an entirely new problem. How was I going to tell Garrus that I found it twisted up in my clothes? All right, I rationalized. It's not like we both didn't see this coming—we did wake up almost naked together in the same bed. I'm sure when I tell him he'll realize that it was all a crazy mistake, and we'll laugh it off just like we had the dozens of other times we had gotten ourselves into some sort of trouble.

Right?

 _Oh, God._

I took the necklace and went out to the landing that overlooked the two sitting rooms. Garrus was searching the sofa in the main living room. From my vantage point up above I had the rare opportunity to watch him while his guard was down. He moved with a grace that was uncommon to most turians, given the structure of their bodies, but at the same time his movements were precise and controlled, borne from many years of strict military training. The deadly combination was oddly appealing. Something twinged deep in my gut and I felt my cheeks grow hot as I flushed.

Clearing my throat I swallowed down my strange reaction and called out, "Hey, Garrus."

He stopped and twisted around to gaze up at me.

"Well, the uhh…," I began, flashing him the best smile I could muster, "the good news is that it looks like you didn't marry some random turian woman and bring her home last night."

His shoulders immediately relaxed, and the look of sheer relief in his eyes almost made me stop and run back into my room and lock the door behind me.

"Thank the spirits," he sighed.

"Yeah." A nervous laugh slipped past my lips. I held up the necklace, letting it dangle off of my index finger so he could see it. It caught the light and sent scintillating rays dancing all around the large room. Bitting into my bottom lip, I willed myself to finish my sentence. "I think you married me instead."


	4. Chapter 4

For a long moment he just stared at me, and as the uncomfortable silence stretched between us I could feel my throat closing, cutting off my air supply.

 _Say something!_ I screamed at him in my mind. _Don't just look at me like that!_

Garrus' mandibles twitched as he slowly broke into a wide, somewhat cocky grin. "I suppose I could do worse."

"What?" I exclaimed with mock indignation. "I'll have you know that I'm considered to be one of the most eligible people in the galaxy. You should feel lucky I said _yes_!"

"Whatever, Shepard. I know you can't resist my charm. You've wanted me for years. I just thought I'd finally—what do you humans say?—make an honest woman outta ya."

Although Garrus' use of the idiom was not entirely accurate, his comment still hit its mark. My eyes widened incredulously as I shot back, "Well, I had to give all those krogran women their chance at you before I officially took you off the market."

He laughed. It was a carefree and completely uninhibited laugh, and at the sound of it I exhaled the breath I'd been holding in. Maybe things were going to be okay, after all.

I shook my head and smiled in response before I pushed away from the railing and went downstairs to join him in the living room. He replaced the couch cushions, which had been dislodged during his search, and sat down. I flopped down next to him and kicked my feet up on the coffee table.

"I guess we should figure out if we actually did get married," I said after a couple of minutes had passed.

"Good idea," Garrus agreed. "Although, I'm not exactly sure where to start."

I thought for a second. "Hm. Given our inebriated state, we probably wouldn't have gone far. Maybe we should look up wedding chapels in the vicinity and see if there are any close by."

"Okay."

I got up and grabbed the data pad that was sitting on the kitchen counter and returned to the couch. Queuing up the extranet I plugged in the parameters and hit search. Surprisingly, it brought up three results, with two of the three within walking distance from the jewelry shop. I clicked on the first choice and read the description, but it was immediately clear that it wasn't the one, since it only specialized in salarian mating contracts.

The second one, however, was exactly what we were looking for.

"Garrus, look!" I said, pointing to the screen. According to the description, the chapel catered to all races and species, believing that true love could conquer all social barriers. "I think this might be it."

"No sense in beating all the bushes, then," he replied. "Let's go."

I stared at him and then broke into a fit of laughter. "Stop," I cried. "You have got to stop! You are _butchering_ all our sayings!"

"I thought it sounded a little weird. How's it supposed to go?"

"Beating around the bush," I told him.

"That still doesn't make any sense."

"I know. I never understood it, either." I motioned toward the door. "Come on."

If there were any lingering doubts as to whether Garrus and I had really gotten married, they completely evaporated as soon as we set foot inside the chapel. We walked into a small, dimly lit foyer that had been decorated in deep reds and gold. Vases and planter arrangements holding fresh red and white roses lined the entryway. Dark mahogany paneling covered the bottom half of the walls and red wallpaper with a gold damask pattern ran along the top, giving the room an old-world feel to it. Holographic pictures of couples in all sorts of ceremonial dress cycled through gilded gold frames. The foyer split into two adjoining rooms on either side of us, one with a set of closed wooden French doors, which I assumed was the chapel, and the other into a quaint business office.

Upon hearing the main doors close behind us, a salarian dressed in a white and gold suit got up from the desk and approached us. His eyes widened as he saw us standing there, and he spread his hand out to welcome us.

"Back so soon?" he inquired in a friendly tone. "I thought you two would be enjoying your honeymoon by now. How is my favorite happy couple doing?"

"Well, that answers that," Garrus quipped beside me.

I glanced at over at him, noting how his mandibles were pulled close to his face. He didn't appear angry, but he didn't look all that happy, either.

"I take it you recognize us, then?" I asked the salarian.

"Are you kidding?" he sputtered. "It's not every day that the great Commander Shepard comes in wanting to get married. I performed the bonding ceremony myself."

Garrus and I exchanged another glance. Even though we both knew this was the most likely outcome, he still looked rattled by the revelation. Spurred on by his facial expression, I blurted, "Can you reverse it?"

"I—what?" The salarian blinked. He scratched the fleshy protrusions at the top of his head as his mind drastically tried to switch gears. "You don't…wait—what?"

"This is all just a big misunderstanding. It's kind of funny, actually," I said with a brittle laugh. "See, we'd been drinking—"

"A lot," Garrus cut in.

"Too much," I echoed.

"Way too much. This whole thing is an accident." He threw an arm around my neck and let out a strained chuckle. "A very funny accident."

The salarian's eyes narrowed as he regarded us. "You mean, you don't _want_ to be married?"

"No," we both hurriedly assured him with shaking heads and even shakier laughter. "No, no, no."

"Garrus is my best friend and I love him, but I don't love him in _that_ way."

"And she's a bit too _human_ for my tastes," he retorted.

"So how do we fix it?"

"Oh my," the salarian moaned, wringing his hands together. "Oh dear. This is not good. Not good at all."

"What?" I asked. Suddenly it felt like I had swallowed a brick. Garrus slipped his arm from my neck and straightened up to full height. I could feel the tension radiating off him, and it wasn't helping my uneasiness. "You _can_ fix it, right?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple," he replied.

Of course it wasn't, I pouted. Was anything in my life lately _ever_ simple? I swear, you push one crew mate away from a prothean beacon and everything goes to hell in a hand basket.

"When turians pair bond, they bond for life," the salarian went on, effectively interrupting the pity party I was throwing for myself. "Divorce is rare and is usually frowned upon. That's not to say it doesn't happen, but it takes special permission from the hierarchy to grant one."

I clapped my hand over my eyes.

Garrus groaned.

The salarian continued to look distressed.

"All right," I finally said, "so how do we get permission from the hierarchy?"

Our host motioned for us to follow him and reluctantly led us into his office. While we waited in front of his desk, he went to a filing cabinet along the back wall and rifled through a bunch of antiquated-looking paper files. After a moment he produced a piece of yellow parchment with symbols on it that I didn't recognize. He came back over to us and set the sheet down on the desk in front of us.

"You will need to fill this out."

"I can't read this," I complained. "Everything's in turian. How am I supposed to fill it out if I don't even know what it says?"

"This is the necessary form that needs to be completed in order to request permission from the hierarchy to dissolve your marriage," the salarian commented dryly.

I turned to Garrus. "Is that what it says? You'd tell me, right? I'm not selling myself into slavery or donating my body to a turian scientist or anything like that?"

Garrus laughed. "No, Shepard. It's completely legitimate."

"Sign here and here," the salarian instructed, pointing to the signature lines.

I picked up a pen, signed my name, and then passed it to Garrus. He did the same.

"Now what?" I said.

"Now I submit it to the hierarchy for consideration."

"How long does it take to get an answer?" Garrus asked.

"It takes about a week to get a decision back," he told us, "and there is no guarantee they will approve it."

My stomach lurched. "You mean there's a chance we'll have to stay married?"

The salarian nodded.

Garrus and I shared an apprehensive glance.

"I'll call you as soon as I hear something. Until then, I'd advise you to make the most out of your situation."

I was in a daze as we left the wedding chapel and made our way back to the sky car.

Married? I was married? I couldn't believe it. And honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Marriage was something I never really had time to think about. Hell, I didn't even have time to date! I was too busy fighting reapers and Cerberus and trying to save the galaxy. Love and commitment were the last things on my mind.

"Garrus, what the hell have we gotten ourselves into?"

"I don't know, but we sure thought it was a great idea last night."

"I don't get it," I said as we got in the sky car and drove back to my apartment. "No offense, but it seems really out of character for the both of us."

"None taken, Shepard. I agree with you."

We lapsed into silence and spent the rest of the trip lost in our own thoughts.

I had just set foot in the kitchen when it hit me.

"Wait a minute," I said, skewering Garrus with an accusatory glare. "You told me earlier today that turians don't take the idea of marriage lightly. Did you _know_ about the whole bonding for life thing?"

"Yes…," he said slowly. "All turians do."

"Then why didn't you say something last night?" I cried.

"I was drunk!" he fired back at me. "Why didn't _you_ say something?"

"Because apparently I didn't know what I was doing!"

He folded his arms and leaned back with a satisfied smirk.

"Shut up," I mumbled.

My omni-tool pinged with an incoming message, putting an end to any further argument. I clicked on the audio feed.

"Shepard."

Joker's voice came over the line. "Hey, Commander. We just finally got back into comm range. How's the honeymoon?"

My eyes flew to Garrus, who was wearing the same shocked expression I was.

"You know we got married?" I asked.

"Well, yeah," the pilot replied matter-of-factly . "We were all there."

"What?"

"Why didn't you try to stop us?" Garrus demanded.

"What?" Joker replied, sounding genuinely confused. "Why would anyone want to stop you?"

"Because we were drunk!" I shouted into the comm. "We didn't mean it!"

"I don't know about that," Joker said. "You guys may have been drinking, but I've never seen a couple look more in love than you two. Everyone was wondering what took you so long."

 _What? What the hell was he talking about?_

"Whatever," I grumbled sourly. There was no point in arguing semantics over something that we were in the process of fixing anyway. "Just come pick us up."

"Sorry, no can do, Commander. You sent us off on a mission to the Perseus Veil so you could quote-unquote, 'enjoy your honeymoon.' Even if we turned around now, we'd still be about a week out."

Dropping my elbows onto the island counter, I buried my face in my hands and released an aggravated sigh.

"We'll see you soon, Shepard," Joker called out with a gleeful tone. "In the meantime, try to enjoy yourself."

He clicked off the comm before I could come up with any sort of smart ass reply.

Things just kept getting better and better, didn't they? Not only were Garrus and I married, but now we were stuck together, alone, on the Citadel. Fantastic.

I glanced up at him, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly as I shot him a nervous smile. I had been on some difficult and dangerous missions in my time, but playing house with Garrus for a week was by far the scariest adventure I'd ever come up against.


End file.
